Hope you had a great 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July!

Our celebrations started the night before. The town next to my parents was having a fireworks display and so we went to that. They started at 9 o'clock, which is after Arianna's bed time (8 o'clock), but she stayed up anyway. My dad held her as they fireworks went off and, to my surprise, she was grinning and clapping - she seemed to really enjoy them. She fell asleep about half way through and we were quick to pack her up and head home, where she slept until 9 o'clock the next morning! I was really surprised, I almost thought something was wrong that we were able to sleep in so long!

The town we live in has a big parade on the morning of the 4th, so we packed up and walked over to that.

I was really impressed with the parade. It started out with a number of fire trucks from various localities in our town and from neighboring towns. They set off their sirens and made a lot of loud noise. I really thought Arianna would hate the noises, but like the night before she just giggled and clapped.

The parade continued and a number of groups passed by throwing candy to the crowd and waving. I even caught Arianna waving at some of them and got a few smiles and giggles when the clowns came by.

It was so nice to do something so 'normal' with her. I was really glad I was wearing my sunglasses that day. Being around other people, doing something 'normal' with my child, and watching how happy she was really brought a tear to my eye. I felt so foolish getting all weepy but it was really a happy 'mommy moment'.

Eventually a group of revolutionary war reenactors came by with muskets and one group fired the guns RIGHT in front of us. I went to pick up Arianna, sure she'd be in tears, but she wasn't. She just giggled and waved. WOW!

About 2/3 of the way through she started to get fussy and wanted some snacks. I brought puffs and some crackers with me and she ate and was happy.

Before we knew it it was over and we headed home again.

Arianna took a nap while we FINALLY put down mulch in our flower beds and then my parents came over with some sparklers for 'the bebe', and then we had some steaks on the grill.

It was hard coming back into work today as it really felt like Saturday yesterday...

And in case anyone cares (even though no one helped with my previous post), I've decided to go to New Orleans and hope my leg is A-OK by then...